


Hideaway

by fembuck



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: Canon Queer Character, Childhood Friends, F/F, Femslash, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 02:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7249210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fembuck/pseuds/fembuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Audrey and Emma find themselves trapped together after fleeing from an encounter with Ghostface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hideaway

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline wise the story takes place during early season 1.

Emma fell against the supply room wall and slid down, resting her head against the solid surface as she settled on the cool floor and tried very hard to calm her ragged breathing. Minutes ago, Ghostface had been close enough for her to feel the warmth of the killer’s breath on her neck. Blood still trickled from where the killer’s knife had nicked her neck and her arm. If flight had been an option, she would have taken it, but it hadn’t been so she had fought, hard. Her willpower couldn’t change the fact that she was cornered and unarmed however, and Emma wasn’t convinced that her heart would still have been beating if Audrey hadn’t been with her, if Audrey hadn’t picked up that chair and …

Emma squeezed her eyes shut as the adrenaline rush she had been riding since Ghostface had grabbed her began to fade and all of the fear she hadn’t been able to process before suddenly crashed down on her.

A moment later, Emma gasped and violently jerked back, recoiling as something brushed against her hand.  Her heart was pounding again and her wide, scared eyes began to search around her until they finally landed on Audrey’s concerned face.

“Sorry,” Emma said, reaching out instinctively for Audrey though she stopped herself just short of Audrey’s arm.  “Sorry.  I just… spaced, I guess.  I … I …” she stammered, trying to explain her reaction to Audrey’s touch but still too overcome for her mind to focus on verbalizing coherently.

“It’s okay,” Audrey whispered, glancing towards the supply room door, listening for any noises beyond before turning back to Emma.  “I get it.  I’m totally freaked too. Which is why I should’ve known not to touch you when _you_ were freaking,” she continued, both sheepish and apologetic.

“No,” Emma said, shaking her head as her pounding heart finally began to calm and her brain finally began to focus.  “You saved my life back there.  I’d be a ‘once was’ if it wasn’t for you,” she continued earnestly as she smiled at Audrey gratefully. “You’re my knight in rebel leather. Seriously, you can touch me whenever you want,” Emma went on, still smiling widely until her words actually registered with her and her eyes widened in alarm, leaving her staring at Audrey with the panicked surprise of a deer glancing up into a set of headlights.

“That’s … I didn’t, I mean … that came out, differently than I intended,” Emma sputtered pleadingly.  “Not that it would be some terrible thing or anything, if… it would be fine … great even, but I was just saying that I appreciate the rescue back there, especially considering how things have been with us lately,” Emma rambled on, her eyes getting wider and the look in them more panicked as she tried and failed to stop her mouth from doing that thing where it kept on talking, blundering, shoving her recklessly towards complete and utter mortification.

“I get it,” Audrey interjected, stopping the flood of words tumbling from Emma’s mouth, as much for her own benefit as for Emma’s.  “You’re welcome,” she added a moment later, her lips curving up slightly as her eyes met Emma’s.

Emma smiled back before averting her eyes bashfully, and though Audrey was pretty sure hiding from a knife wielding serial killer in a supply room was not the ideal place to be experiencing fuzzy feelings, she couldn’t stop her smile from widening a little as she watched Emma smile blushingly down at her lap.

“Thank you,” Emma murmured a few seconds later, “For saving me from him … and from myself just now. I ramble when I’m nervous, and apparently when I’m terrified as well,” she went on, glancing over at Audrey shyly, a slight blush still visible on her cheeks, even in the poorly lit supply room.

“Oh,” Audrey began slowly, eyeing Emma carefully as she spoke. “So, the thought of me touching you is terrifying?” she asked, joking, but also not joking. Her tone was casual enough, but her words were heavy with the weight of remembrances of the past and the uncertainty of the present. “What happened to it would be ‘great even’?”

Emma stared at Audrey for a moment, narrowing her eyes in displeasure, but when Audrey’s lips curved up a little in a teasing grin, Emma couldn’t keep up the peeved expression, and as her cheeks flushed her lips turned up in a helpless smile.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Emma murmured, reaching out to shove Audrey’s shoulder lightly. “I was talking about being in here, hiding from Dollar Tree Hannibal Lecter, not about you,” Emma said, the last words coming out softer and gentler than the others as her eyes lingered on Audrey’s face and her heart beat quickened, making her uncomfortably aware of how aware she was of how close Audrey was to her, and how much she wanted Audrey to be even closer. “You’re, uh,” Emma continued, looking up at Audrey quickly, “You’re too cute to be terrifying,” she breathed out, flashing Audrey a nervous smile.

“Cause I’m short?” Audrey asked challengingly, arching a dark eyebrow at Emma. “Because that’s heightist, and I’ll have you know that lots of vertically uninclined people throughout history have achieved magnificent feats,” she went on, struggling to seem teasing and non-pulsed even though she wasn’t quite sure what was happening between the two of them and that uncertainty was messing with her nerves.

Emma had been acting strangely all night.  Even before they had been chased in the supply room Emma had been weird with her.  It was almost like she was flirting, but Audrey knew that Emma would never. What had happened at Christa’s party two years ago had made that pretty clear. After that night it had been nothing but polite ‘hey’s’ and smiles in the hallway which made Emma’s position on what had happened pretty clear. But ever since Emma had invited her to Brooke’s stupid party, whenever they were alone together, the way Emma spoke to her, the way she looked at her … Audrey could’ve sworn that Emma was flirting with her, but she couldn’t be sure and it was frustrating as hell.

“Name one,” Emma challenged, angling her body towards Audrey, so that she could gaze at her without putting a strain on her neck.  “And don’t say Napoleon,” she warned, pointing her finger at Audrey.  “You’re better than that.”

“I am,” Audrey agreed nodding her head gamely.  “Besides,” she continued as her eyes found Emma’s.  “Napoleon actually wasn’t even that short.  He was like 5’7.  Clearly he never would have been in the running for France’s Next Top Model, but he wasn’t exactly fun-sized either.”

“Seriously?” Emma asked dubiously.

“Seriously,” Audrey confirmed.  “I swear,” she added lifting her hand up and placing it over her heart.

“I feel so lied to,” Emma sighed, shaking her head.  “First Santa, then the Easter Bunny, then the Tooth Fairy, lies and more lies,” Emma sighed sadly, shaking her head.  “We live in a world of piss and shit.”

“Settle down there Crixus,” Audrey breathed out a moment later before nudging Emma’s thigh lightly with her hand. “No world that has dogs and the USWNT can be entirely bullshit.”

“You … make a convincing argument,” Emma replied, smiling.

“Oh, I know. That was ironclad logic you just witnessed. I’m pretty sure it would be upheld in a court of law,” Audrey replied, managing to achieve a playfully cocky tone throughout her response even though her nerves made her keep glancing away from Emma.

“Your honour, as my first piece of evidence I present to you this golden retriever puppy trying to bite a watermelon.  As my last piece of evidence, I present to you, Tobin Heath’s arms,” Emma teased when Audrey met her eyes again.

“Exactly,” Audrey agreed grinning. “Except I would have used that clip of a Husky singing Gwen Stefani and Ashlyn Harris’s everything, like her entire being. But, you know, both are solid arguments.”

“Solid, yeah,” Emma replied shaking her head, “But I think we could have made it diamond hard by throwing in that video of dog day at the community pool and a shout-out to Megan Rapinoe.”

Audrey looked over at Emma curiously. “That’s an interesting choice,” she commented, watching Emma closely. “I figured you would have gone with Alex Morgan as the girl-crush closer.”

Emma eyed Audrey for a few seconds, and then looked away before shrugging her shoulders and murmuring, “Not my type,” before she glanced up and over at Audrey once more and let her eyes linger just a little too long, and a little too softly.

Audrey’s jaw clenched and she turned her head, breaking eye contact with Emma before she leaned heavily against the supply room wall once again, focusing her eyes forward.

That look Emma had been giving her, it made her feel things; things that she had felt before, things that hadn’t led to anything good. And Emma, she should have known that. She should have known enough about human fucking emotion to know that looking at someone the way she had just been looking at Audrey, was not fucking platonic.  It was confusing, really fucking confusing, and annoying, and totally fucking inappropriate given how Emma had reacted after …

“What’re you doing?” Audrey asked, abruptly and irritably, turning to look at Emma once again.  “Don’t look away from me,” she continued when Emma tried to avert her gaze.  “Why’re you messing with me?”

“I’m not messing with you,” Emma said immediately, reaching out for Audrey though she stopped short of contact when Audrey looked down at her outstretched hand like it was diseased.

“Then what is this?” Audrey asked, really wanting to believe Emma, but still hesitant after how things had gone before.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Emma breathed out, wide-eyed, though behind the mask of innocence Audrey swore she could see something guilty lurking in her eyes.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Audrey asked incredulously.

“No,” Emma replied helplessly, though that guilty, knowing look remained in her eyes.

“So, you’ve just … you’ve been acting completely normal all night, and I’m just crazy. Is that it?  I’m just projecting my shit onto you?”

“I didn’t say that,” Emma said, her voice equal parts defensive and placating.  “I’m not saying that, or anything about you. I’m just saying that whatever it is, I’m not aware of it, okay?  I don’t know.”

“Don’t know, right,” Audrey scoffed, shaking her head irritably.  “I mean that’s bullshit, but whatever.  If you don’t want to talk about it, or even acknowledge it, then fine. I can’t force you to behave like a decent human being. But don’t act like we’re friends when you’ll look me in the eyes and lie to me.”

“Audrey,” Emma said softly, pleadingly.

“Not interested,” Audrey said, waving her hand dismissively.  “Whatever this is,” she continued, gesturing between the two of them, “I’m done with it,” she declared before she crept carefully towards the supply room door and then pressed her ear against it, listening intently for a few moments before finally muttering, “I’m outta here.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Emma whispered urgently a second later, reaching out for Audrey’s wrist, stopping her before she could stand.  “He could still be prowling around out there. You can’t leave.”

“We’ve gotta leave sometime,” Audrey shot back pulling her wrist out of Emma’s grip.

“Sometime doesn’t mean ‘right this second’,” Emma replied, scrambling to her feet and stepping in front of the door just before Audrey could pull it open.  “Let’s just wait for a while longer.  Please,” Emma begged softly, “Don’t put yourself in danger because you’re mad at me.”

Audrey stared at Emma, hard and silent as she mulled over Emma’s pleas, and then she released a frustrated sigh and muttered, “Fine, whatever,” deciding to stay put, for the moment. “Just, don’t talk to me,” she added peevishly as she sat back down and then crossed her arms over her chest, settling in for the wait.

Emma leaned back against the wall as well and then squeezed her eyes shut dejectedly. She had asked Audrey to leave the dance with her and take a walk because now that Audrey no longer blamed her for Rachel’s death, Emma thought that she might actually be able to start mending things between them.

She had wanted the two of them to wander out onto the back field and luxuriate in the cool breeze on their skin as green grass tickled their legs and they looked up at the twinkling stars. She had wanted to talk to Audrey, and laugh with her like they used to.

She had thought that sneaking off together would’ve provided her with the opportunity to remind Audrey how well they had always gotten along when it was just the two of them. All she had managed to do was piss Audrey off however, and the worst part was that she knew Audrey had every right to be angry with her.

She hadn’t meant to mess with Audrey’s feelings, but she also knew that she _had_ been flirting with Audrey since Brooke’s party. It wasn’t intentional, she wasn’t doing it on purpose; she just hadn’t been able to stop herself. Given how things had gone down between them two years before however, Emma understood why her eyes lingering on Audrey’s lips would have upset her since she had run away when she’d been given the opportunity to find out what kissing Audrey felt like.

But the thing was, Emma wasn’t the same girl she was two years ago. She wasn’t confused anymore, and while she was still a little scared about how Audrey would react to her given everything that had happened between them, she wasn’t scared of what she was feeling … or who she was feeling it for.

“I like you,” Emma whispered minutes later, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them after Audrey last spoke.  “’Like you’ like you,” she continued softly.  “’I think about your lips’ like you,” she breathed out before glancing over at Audrey and staring at those lips for a moment.  “I was too scared back then, after Christa’s party, when …” Emma turned to look at Audrey again, remembering how she and Audrey had staggered drunkenly to the park down the road, how they’d somehow ended up lying in the sand underneath the jungle gym, holding hands as they gazed up at the stars through the brightly painted rods.

She remembered the way Audrey had propped herself up on her arm, and then leaned over her and kissed her so softly, but so sweetly. She remembered how her heart had seized in her chest, and how her body had grown warm and started to tingle at the contact.  She remembered how she had tentatively kissed back, and how for a minute the world had been soft, and dreamy, and warm, and … perfect.

Then, a car horn had blared down the street from the park, and the moment at been broken.  Emma had realized then, consciously realized, that she was kissing her best friend, her female best friend, and she had promptly freaked out. She’d pulled away from Audrey and hastily risen to her feet, mumbling some kind of apology before stumbling away from the park, moving quickly and determinedly towards home, never looking back, even as Audrey had called out after her desperately.

“I remember,” Audrey said tightly, refusing to meet Emma’s gaze.

She remembered how long they had been lying there in the sand before she’d worked up the nerve to kiss Emma. She remembered how happy she’d been when Emma had kissed her back instead of pushing her away like she’d feared. She remembered how hopeful she’d felt, how excited she’d been as Emma’s hand had cupped the back of her neck, keeping her close, as if Emma hadn’t been able to stand the thought of their lips parting … and then that damn horn had blared, and it had been over, and Emma had run.

“I also remember you running away like I was some kind of plague carrier and avoiding me for approximately the next two years,” Audrey added, her voice hard, and hurt as she spared a look over at Emma’s face.

“I was …” Emma began beseechingly.

“Scared, I know, I was listening,” Audrey interjected with little sympathy.  “You know who else was scared?  Me,” she whispered harshly, her voice cracking a little as she began to blink faster, trying to contain the tears she could feel beginning to burn her eyes.

She’d been terrified that night in the park. She’d been agonizing over her feelings for Emma for months, imaging every way the situation could go wrong if she told Emma about how she felt.  But when Emma looked at her, there had been this gentleness in her eyes that made Audrey just melt inside, that made her feel like she was the luckiest girl on Earth, and she had convinced herself that it had to mean something. She had convinced herself that Emma couldn’t make her feel that way if Emma didn’t also feel something for her. So, laying there under the jungle gym that night, Audrey had decided to trust in herself and be bold. She’d put her heart on the line when she’d leaned over Emma and slowly dipped her head until she was brushing Emma’s lips with her own. She’d taken a risk that night … and she’d been wrong.  She’d been wrong and thing she had feared most had come true. She’d lost her best friend.

“I was scared you’d hate me if you knew how I felt,” Audrey continued, meeting Emma’s eyes, forcing herself to be strong and maintain eye contact. “I was scared I’d lose my best friend. And I did. What are you scared of? You know I like you. I kissed you two years ago. I went to Brooke’s stupid party when you asked. I forgave you for the video. I wandered off into an episode of _Ghostface: The Teenager Slayer_ with you tonight because you asked.  I’m an idiot. I keep coming back for more. So what are you so scared of?”

Emma stared at Audrey silently, her lips parted as if she were going to speak, but she didn’t. She knew what she had been scared of, but she didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to admit out loud that she had been afraid of being different; that she had been afraid of being looked at, and gossiped about. She had liked kissing Audrey in the park, she’d wanted to be the one kissing Audrey when she and Nina had stumbled upon her and Rachel in the parking lot, and she’d wanted to kiss Audrey when they were sitting around the pool at Brooke’s party.  She hadn’t known what wanting those things made her, bisexual, pansexual, some other kind of sexual she hadn’t heard about yet, but she knew it made her something, and she had known that ‘being something’ came with consequences.

Emma closed her mouth and dipped her head down, her failure to answer becoming her answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Audrey murmured sadly, sighing roughly a moment later.  “Obviously, I didn’t choose to come out,” she continued pointedly, “But at least now the fear’s gone.  I am who I am, and for better or worse, everyone knows it now. I like you, I’ve always liked you, but I’m not going to be your dirty little secret.”

“I don’t want you to be,” Emma said earnestly, shifting just the tiniest bit nearer to Audrey.  “I said I _was_ scared, past-tense not present,” she continued carefully, very aware of the emotional mine-field she was currently navigating her way through.  “Attending funerals every week, being stalked, hunted, slashed and terrorized by some psychotic masked asshole … it’s given me a new perspective on fear. Someone cracking a joke when I wear plaid is no longer on the list of things that scare me.  I just, I thought that maybe I’d used up all my strikes with you.  With how I acted after Christa’s party, and the video … I was just glad you were talking to me again. I didn’t want to push my luck. I really didn’t know I was … being so obvious,” she concluded softly, looking down at her lap bashfully. “My face is my Judas.”

“So,” Audrey began, hesitantly but with an unmistakable note of hope in her voice, “you’re saying that I’m so cute you just couldn’t stop yourself from ogling me?” Audrey continued, smiling a little bit despite herself.

“Pretty much,” Emma replied, looking over at Audrey, smiling sheepishly. “But, for the record, it was like really respectful ogling,” she added.  “Prime time TV ogling, not Netflix Original Series,” she finished, dipping her head down coyly.

Emma’s voice softer and more vulnerable, and upon hearing the changing and _knowing_ the meaning of it, it was Audrey who blushed and had to look away to gather herself.

“So,” Audrey began slowly, drawing the word out as she marshalled her strength, “we could walk around together, holding hands, out in the sun like Twilight sparkle vampires … tangible, opaque, visible to everyone and you would be okay with that?”

Emma was silent for a moment as she let herself visualize the scenario Audrey had just described, the two of them, walking through the quad, the gentle weight of Audrey’s hand in hers as the sun beat down on them, warming their skin, and smiled at the thought. And even when she pictured looking around and spotting people staring at them, following them with their eyes and whispering to each other, it didn’t make Emma want to drop Audrey’s imaginary hand.

“Yeah,” Emma breathed out, directing her smile towards Audrey.  “I think I would be.”

Emma gazed at Audrey for a few seconds after that, gathering her courage, and then, with her eyes still locked on Audrey’s, she leaned forward, closing the distance between them until her lips finally brushed against Audrey’s.

The first contact between their lips was sweet, but electric, and Emma shifted closer to Audrey so that she could reach up with and cup Audrey’s face in her hands as she kissed Audrey more ardently, a soft, longing moan escaping from her a minute later when she felt Audrey’s hand settle on her bare thigh, Audrey’s fingers teasing just under the edge of her dress.

“Audrey,” Emma breathed out, her voice husky in a way Audrey had never heard before but desperately wanted to hear again and again.

“Do you want me to stop?” Audrey asked softly, still gun shy after the last time her lips had been pressed against Emma’s.

“No,” Emma whispered.  “Don’t you dare,” she continued before leaning forward and capturing Audrey’s lips again, not willing to give them up yet after denying herself, and Audrey, such blissful contact for so long.

Minutes later, loud bang rang out through the hallway, and startled, Audrey and Emma pulled away from each other and anxiously turned to face the door of the supply room.

One of the heavy metal doors that led to the staircases had just slammed shut.  Emma turned her head to the side, scanning the small room, and when her eyes landed on an open tool box, she quickly but carefully leaned over and removed a hammer and a wrench.  She silently passed the wrench over to Audrey, and then the two of them waited tense and ready as footsteps could be heard moving down the hall.

“Noisy,” Emma whispered, sounding surprised.

“Yeah,” Audrey agreed softly, her brows furrowing in confusion. “That’s strange.”

The footsteps continued, loud and regular, as Emma and Audrey waited anxiously, and then a faint light shone into the supply room from underneath the door.

“Emma?  Audrey?  Are you in there?”

A male voice with no vocal alterations came through the door, and at the sound of it Emma relaxed slightly.  She knew that voice.

“It’s Sherriff Hudson,” Emma murmured to Audrey before raising her voice and calling out, “We’re here,” before scrambling towards the door to open it.

“Thank god, we’ve been looking for you since … Jesus!” Hudson exclaimed softly, noticing the slash on Emma’s arm and the nick on her neck.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Emma breathed out, as she stepped firmly into the hall, clearing a path for Audrey.  “Thanks to her,” she continued, smiling gently over at Audrey as the brunette came to a stop at her side.

“What about you?  Are you okay?  Did you get cut t…”

“I’m fine, dude,” Audrey interjected, really not wanting the Sherriff eyeing her too closely.  “Seriously, I’m good.”

“Alright, “ Hudson replied, shifting his gaze back over to Emma and the slash on her arm, “Well, your mom,” he directed towards Emma, “is downstairs and anxious to lay eyes on you, and your …” he said, shifting his eyes back over to Audrey, “Noah is ... a unique individual who is currently very agitated. Let’s get you two back to them.”

The Sherriff turned from the two girls and motioned for the deputy who had been stationed by the stairway to open up the doors.

“Ready?” Hudson asked, turning to look at the girls.

Audrey nodded her approval, and Hudson nodded back before turning to face forward once more and starting down the hallway.  Audrey took a step after him, but when Emma did not move forward with her, Audrey paused and turned to look at the blonde.

“You okay?” Audrey asked gently.

“Yeah,” Emma sighed softly, her lips curving up slightly as she stepped forward and reached to the side, taking Audrey’s hand into her own.  “I am now.”

The End


End file.
